Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2019 September 12

                     The Iris Nebula in a Field of Dust
                   Image Credit & Copyright: Markus Bauer

   Explanation: These cosmic dust clouds drift some 1,300 light-years away
   along the fertile starfields of the constellation Cepheus. The
   beautiful Iris Nebula, also known as NGC 7023, blossoms at the upper
   left. Not the only nebula in the sky to evoke the imagery of flowers,
   its pretty, symmetric form spans about 6 light-years. This nebula's
   dominant blue color is characteristic of the pervasive dust grains
   reflecting light from a nearby hot, bluish star. But darker, obscuring
   dust clouds cover most of the nearly 4 degree wide field of view. At
   the right is the LDN 1147/1158 complex of Lynds Dark Nebulae. Stars are
   forming there, still hidden within the dark cloud cores. A search
   through the sharp image can identify Herbig-Haro objects though, jets
   of shocked glowing gas emanating from recently formed stars.

                       Tomorrow's picture: two comets
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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